Extracts from the Infosheet with this kit:

The Common Rat: Actually, when one talks about rats, then there are two best known rat species – the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the black rat (Rattus rattus- also known as the ship rat, roof rat, and house rat). I have chosen to create a set of the larger of the two groups, the brown rat, which is the dominant rat in Europe and much of North America.

These model rodents are intended to enhance any dioramas or modelling scenes, historical or otherwise, but particularly models of the Great War period, where the Norway rat was particularly dominant. They have been created in the large 1:16th scale / 120mm and the smaller 1:32nd or 1:35th scales / 54mm sizes. As these creatures varied in sizes, the differences between the smaller scales is virtually unnoticeable.

The Naming: Originally called the Hanover rat, the brown rat has had many different names throughout history, but is nowadays correctly called Norwegian rat or Norway rat (Latin: Rattus norvegicus). Why it was called this is not certain, as the brown rat did not originate from Norway, or at the time had any brown rat entered this country. Other names include common rat, street rat, sewer rat, brown Norway rat and wharf rat.

Description: These brown or grey rodents will average a body length of up to 25 cm, with a similar tail length. The male rat is larger than the female and can weigh around 300 – 350g, twice as much as the smaller black rat or Rattus rattus. Under good conditions, the brown rat can weigh up to 900 – 1000g, although this is seldom seen. The fir is coarse and usually brown or dark grey in colour, with the underside or belly area a much lighter, or light grey tone. The ears, feet, tip of nose and tail are without fir and will normally have a lighter colour. The eyes are nearly always black without any white showing.

A female rat may breed up to 6 – 7 times a year, with each litter numbering from 2 – 14. The Norway rat is fully grown in approx. 4 weeks and will live up to 3 years. The rats are found anywhere there are people, but particularly in urban areas – this is called commensalism, which means that one species helps another species, without any help in return.

The rat burrow (nest) consists of networks of tunnels and chambers, linked together with passageways. Here they will live together as a group or pack (sometimes called a colony). Rats will cache their food and store within the chambers. The burrows are found in ditches, cellars, sewers, barns, old buildings, woods and marchlands or just anywhere near a food supply (near humans). They will defend their burrow as a group against predators. The brown rat has exceptionally good hearing and is often found near water. They are good climbers, swimmers and have a strong sense of smell. They will normally hunt at night in packs.

The trench systems of the Great War on both sides offered the ideal living conditions for the Norway rat and there is much evidence from soldiers describing their co-habitants.

Predators: The natural predators of rats include the snake, fox, weasel, birds of prey, cat and dog. In the trenches during the Great War, apart from the soldiers, it was the dogs which helped to keep the rat population under control (or as best as possible under the circumstances). It seems that any of the terrier family were quite common as rat killers. There are also many photos of Jack Russells, particularly kept by German troops.

Notes from the Sculptor

The anatomy or body shape of the Norway rat is a relatively complicated object to cast in one piece. The long, solid bodies, with thin, protruding ears, legs and long tails makes this work a challenging task. An alternative would have been to choose the rat poses in the lesser complicated forms, such as rolled up, with the tail always against the body (similar to Rat No. 14 – Sleeping Rat). This would have made the casting task a lot easier, but simultaneously left out the more common and expected moving, sitting and standing rat poses. I chose the latter, with various natural poses copied from real rats and original WW1 photographs. The sizes have also been varied slightly, giving a natural mix of a group of rats, with young and old together. The fir surface and distinguished tail textures have been re-created, with a lesser or smoother underside to these small animals.

Removing rats from blocks – 1:16th scale / 120mm versions: To mount the rats within a diorama, model scene etc., one could leave the rat on the stand and build it into the ground work – this would be one way to display the animal. Alternately, (and probably a more realistic practice) one could remove the rat first from stand. Depending on which rat one has chosen, it is advised to carefully remove the material between stand and rat first. Here it is best to hand-drill (1mm or better 0.5mm drill – hold the rat up against a light to see the best areas to drill) through the material and then cut or scrape between the holes, using the back side of a sharp modelling knife. Be careful not to add any pressure to the thin, protruding parts of animal such as feet or tail. After removing from block, one can then final clean the underside, being careful again near the feet and tail areas.

Contents / Inhalt:

Extracts from the Infosheet with this kit:

German Steel Helmet M16 / Stahlhelm M16 (Special Edition Version): This helmet, which first entered service in 1916 during the initial stages of the battle of Verdun was designed by Professor Friedrich Schwerd and made from high quality chrome-nickel steel. Weighing between 950 and 1200g, depending on size – more heavier than the Allied helmets, but giving a better protection to the face, ears and neck. The horn venting bolts on each side enabled the fitting of an extra armoured shield over the helmet (also available in 1:16th scale from Jon Smith Modellbau) for sentries, MG troops, snipers or other particularly exposed / dangerous employment. This weighing around 2000g was seldom used; although a total of 50000 were supposedly produced.

Colour outside: first issued in field-grey, which would reflect in sun light and proved unsatisfactory. Various trials were carried out, but it was not until July 1918 that an official camouflage scheme in brown and green sharp-edged irregular patens, all outlined in black was introduced. These were carried out by unit maintenance workshops (other weapons and equipment, particularly artillery pieces and MGs were also rendered in the same way). It seems that helmets were re-painted by individuals or units in a variety of colour schemes before the official order and items with red- brown, ochre (brownish- yellow), green and blue- grey, all outlined in black were common. Helmets were also covered using the light brown sandbag material, or the issued helmet-covers, seen particularly in the later war period.

Colour inside: field-grey all metal pars except chin-strap attachments, which seems to have been unpainted steel. The 3 leather helmet liner pads are of a light coloured leather, which darkened with time. These were mounted to the leather helmet ring, which was also of leather. A string adjustment cord held the 6 pad ends together.

The M.17 & 18 helmets followed with only slight differences to the inside liner and chin strap fasteners. The last model to see service during the war, if only in small numbers was the M.18 Ohrenausschnitt, or Helmet M.18 with ear cut-outs, more commonly (and stubbornly) known as the Cavalry or Telegraph Helmet. The cut-outs were in fact a further design feature of the M.18 to improve the hearing ability of the wearer and avoid the hissing noise experienced by troops.

Notes from the Sculptor

This JSM Special Edition helmet was designed using 3D technology and intended to show the inside of this well-known helmet for diorama and model scenes. Here I have gone to the limits in creation and casting and this item is quite thin in places. Care should be taken when removing the casting channel from rear of helmet. I would suggest clipping away this channel bit by bit, until a small rim is left sitting on the bottom of helmet edge. This can then be removed carefully with a sharp modelling knife and final cleaned with fine sandpaper. The 2 prominent helmet vent bolts can be drilled though if required – here one should use a 0.3mm hand drill, taking care that the correct angle is kept when drilling. The hole should then re-appear in the correct outlet within helmet.

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Extracts from the Infosheet with this kit:

The British SRD Jar:

The British Army stoneware SRD Rum Jar was a common site throughout the Great War, and many original photographs exist showing these items in and around the front lines and trenches. The jars were still being used during WW11 and certainly with units of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and Special Air Service (SAS) on missions behind Axis lines.

Although mainly associated with the storage of rum, these jars were in fact used for all types of liquid supplies used by the British Army. SRD stands for ‘Supply Reserve Depot’ (or Service Rations Depot depending where you research them). As always the British Soldiers had their own version of what the letters stood for – Seldom Reaches Destination, Soon Runs Dry, Service Rum Diluted and Seldom Rarely Delivers were the most common. The rum was first issued to soldiers during the winter of 1914 to help fight against the extreme cold, wet and damp weather conditions within the trenches and front line areas.

All the British Empire troops fighting on the Western Front would have been issued the rum ration, with of cause the Muslim units being the exception. The daily ration of this thick, dark rum was 1/16th of a pint per man and usually given out in the morning. Of cause a wounded or dying man would also be administered rum as required.

Description: The jars were produced from many contractors and of cause will show differences in height, diameter, weight and colour. Generally, the jars were around 31 – 34cm high, 17 – 18cm in diameter and weighing between 3.2 and 3.6 Kilo. The ceramic glazed jars generally had a light-brown top, to just below the indent rings, with a lighter and greyer, or grey-beige bottom. The glazing was sometimes uneven around the top, showing a slightly wavy dividing line between the colours. The SRD stamps were mainly in a darker colour, almost dark grey or black – some indent stamps had no colouring at all. These letters varied considerably in size, design and position on jar – some were curved, following the contour or shape of jar top.

Notes from the Sculptor

I have created these standard British Army SRD Rum Jars, taking the average measurements from original items, in both the 1:16th scale / 120mm and 1:32nd 54mm / 1:35th scale versions (the difference between the smaller scales is only marginal, remembering the fact that these jars were produced in a mixed assortment of sizes from different manufactures). The damaged and broken versions have again been copied from the original jars found in and around the Western Front and display the typical way of cracking / breaking away of these stoneware vessels. As the cracks on the damaged jar are fine, especially in the smaller scales, I have used a square casting channel for easier identity.

The SRD stamp has been designed as an indentation into the surface of jar top. This has been copied and averaged from a large number of different jar manufacture’s stamp styles and sizes (some curved and some straight). On many examples the stamp is just a coloured marking on or near the top slope of jar. The indent is intended to help the modeller re-produce a realistic stamp impression by filling the indent with a darker coloured, thinner paint and rubbing any excess away from jar outer surface. In reality, these stamps went only a few mm into the jar surface.

I have left the jars without stoppers. The open jar necks can be drilled out, giving further depth and realism to these items.